For God will deliver Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, and his people ¹  will again live in them and possess Zion. ² 

The cities of Aroer are abandoned. ¹  They will be used for herds, which will lie down there in peace. ² 

Like lions his enemies roar victoriously over him; they raise their voices in triumph. ¹  They have laid his land waste; his cities have been burned down and deserted. ² 

They are saying, ¹  ‘Announce to the surrounding nations, ²  “The enemy is coming!” ³  Proclaim this message ⁴  to Jerusalem: “Those who besiege cities ⁵  are coming from a distant land. They are ready to raise the battle cry against ⁶  the towns in Judah.”’

I looked and saw that the fruitful land had become a desert and that all of the cities had been laid in ruins. The Lord had brought this all about because of his blazing anger. ¹ 

The inhabited towns will be left in ruins and the land will be devastated. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

He broke down ¹  their strongholds ²  and devastated their cities. The land and everything in it was frightened at the sound of his roaring.

I will turn you into a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹ Certainly you must have heard! ²  Long ago I worked it out, In ancient times I planned ³  it; and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins. ⁴ 

I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said, “Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated, and houses are uninhabited, and the land is ruined and devastated,

¹ Certainly you must have heard! ²  Long ago I worked it out, in ancient times I planned ³  it, and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins. ⁴ 

“I destroyed ¹  nations; their walled cities ²  are in ruins. I turned their streets into ruins; no one passes through them. Their cities are desolate; ³  no one lives there. ⁴ 

Their settlements also included Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan – five towns.

So Israel made a vow ¹  to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver ²  this people into our ³  hand, then we will utterly destroy ⁴  their cities.”

Then they came very close to him and said, “We will build sheep folds here for our flocks and cities for our families, ¹ 

And they must stand as your towns of refuge from the avenger in order that the killer may not die until he has stood trial before the community.

Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that

As for the cities of these peoples that ¹  the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing ²  to survive.

your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. ¹ 

and all the cities of King Sihon of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon, and ended at the Ammonite border.